NCAA Approves Direct Payments to Athletes Pending House Settlement

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors on Monday adopted changes to NCAA rules that would take effect if the House settlement is ultimately approved in court.

According to an announcement at ncaa.org, more than 150 rules will be eliminated to allow for schools to provide additional benefits to student-athletes under the settlement.

If final approval of the settlement is granted, NCAA rules will permit schools to provide direct financial payments to student-athletes, including for use of a student-athlete's name, image and likeness. Schools have until June 15 to decide whether to opt to provide benefits that would be permissible under the settlement for the coming academic year. 

The board's actions included approving a number of proposals contingent on final federal court approval:

• Permitting schools to provide full scholarships to all student-athletes on a declared roster and eliminating sport-by-sport scholarship maximums, giving schools much greater flexibility in providing athletics aid and doubling the scholarships available in women's sports. 
• Modifying rules to allow autonomy conference schools and others who opt to offer settlement-related benefits to provide up to $20.5 million in direct financial benefits to student-athletes.  
• Introducing rules intended to bring clarity and stability to the NIL environment for all Division I schools, including allowing for additional independent review of third-party NIL agreements between student-athletes and entities that are associated with a particular school. 

According to the announcement, the board also approved new rules that would establish new policies consistent with the terms of the settlement, including:

• The creation of technology platforms for schools to monitor their payments to student-athletes and for student-athletes to report their third-party NIL agreements. 
• Rules that address steps student-athletes can take if an NIL agreement is considered outside of the range of compensation developed by the external, independent clearinghouse. 
• The creation of an enforcement group — created and operated by the defendant conferences — that would provide oversight for rules relating to the terms of the settlement, including third-party NIL and the annual benefits cap. 
• A requirement that for student-athletes to receive the new benefits, they must be enrolled full-time, meet Division I progress-toward-degree requirements and receive such benefits during their period of eligibility (e.g., five-year clock).